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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29393805">kintsugi</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/occultisaperta/pseuds/occultisaperta'>occultisaperta</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Video Blogging RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Corpse and Sykkuno are in love, Established Relationship, Feel-good, Fic Exchange, Fluff, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Valentine's Day, onlyfluff, slight past angst</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 08:48:39</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,927</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29393805</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/occultisaperta/pseuds/occultisaperta</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A couple of years after they first met, Corpse is finally ready to ask a very important question.</p><p>--</p><p>Kintsugi is the Japanese art of putting broken pottery pieces back together with gold — a metaphor for embracing your flaws and imperfections.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Corpse Husband/Sykkuno (Video Blogging RPF)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>225</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Server Event: Valentines 2021</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>kintsugi</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lonlystone/gifts">Lonlystone</a>.</li>


        <li>
            Inspired by

            <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29393256">And so we meet</a> by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lonlystone/pseuds/Lonlystone">Lonlystone</a>.
        </li>

    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is part of a fic exchange that I'm doing with a fantastic group. Part two of a duet story I worked on with Lonlystone &lt;3 they wrote the first meeting and I wrote the proposal.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>If anything, the anxiety had gotten worse. It was different; it wasn't worse, but it was more intense. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was probably because this was... well, this was everything, and Corpse knew it. It was a culmination of every moment since that first Among Us lobby when Sykkuno had called him Mr. Corpse and something in the back of his mind had softly thought, </span>
  <em>
    <span>his voice is soothing. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>He should have known then that something was going to happen. Maybe he had, but there was a larger part of him that was so focused on the fact that he didn't feel like he deserved anything good, let alone someone like Sykkuno, that he'd never entertained the idea.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It didn't seem to matter if he was ready to entertain it though... because Sykkuno became a part of his life -- first through lobbies, and then through messages on Discord, silly games on the phone. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And then as a stream that he turned on when he had particularly bad nights. He told himself that it was just because his voice was soothing -- because it was nice to have people who cared about him so much.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He knew, though, that it was more than that. His friends knew, too.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So did everyone who took any time to pay attention to them. He was the only one who wasn't admitting it -- him... and seemingly Sykkuno. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was probably the latter's ability to be (or at least seem?) oblivious to what was going on that left him in the dark for so long, that left him </span>
  <em>
    <span>wondering</span>
  </em>
  <span> for as long as he did if it was unrequited feelings, if it was even going to go anywhere. They'd both expressed that they were straight, after all.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It wasn't Corpse's fault that he'd met someone who proved otherwise.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>In the end, they'd fallen together. It was almost like it was inevitable; everyone around them knew, was doing what they could to help... and there was no stopping what was an undeniable force.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But now...</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Well...</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Now things were different, because he wanted to </span>
  <em>
    <span>do </span>
  </em>
  <span>something different, </span>
  <em>
    <span>be</span>
  </em>
  <span> something different. They'd discussed this before, the fact that he wasn't sure if he wanted to </span>
  <em>
    <span>consider</span>
  </em>
  <span> marriage; commitment was a horrifying thing for both of them, and Sykkuno seemed just as unsure as he was. After he'd moved to Vegas so they could live together, Corpse had felt a level of contentment and happiness that he hadn't in such a long time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There were still rough days; there would always be rough days. There were days when he couldn't get out of bed, when he didn't want to move. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>On those days, Sykkuno brought him bubble tea and made sure he had enough blankets. On those days, Sykkuno would stream a little later in the afternoon and curl up beside him on the bed, and they would aimlessly watch old horror movies, even though Corpse was </span>
  <em>
    <span>certain</span>
  </em>
  <span> that Sykkuno hated them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There were days when Corpse wanted to scream, when he wanted to put his fist through the wall and stop feeling altogether.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>On those days, Sykkuno would make sure that he had water, would give him space when needed... and would climb into the shower with him when he inevitably came off of that ledge and wash his hair, and make sure that he completely ignored the fact that the shower water was intermingled with tears.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sykkuno never denied that he had flaws -- he never tried to </span>
  <em>
    <span>change</span>
  </em>
  <span> him. He just found the fractures and breaks and filled them up with his light, with his cool presence and his warmth.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was like piecing together a shattered cup with gold. He never asked him to change the things that made him broken; he embraced them. And even though he wasn't sure if he could ever really be a </span>
  <em>
    <span>whole</span>
  </em>
  <span> thing... with Sykkuno, he knew that he could be </span>
  <em>
    <span>together.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>That was why things were different.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His fingers twitched nervously as he sat on the couch. Sykkuno had just gone to get bubble tea, so he wasn't going to be out for long. Corpse had bought the small velvet box and the contents within a few weeks ago, when his partner had flown to California to visit Rae and the rest of the OTV house. He hadn't asked him to go; he had made sure that Corpse was in a good enough headspace for him to leave without it affecting him, while simultaneously being aware that he</span>
  <em>
    <span> wasn’t</span>
  </em>
  <span> in the headspace for travel or groups. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It had given him the opportunity he needed to </span>
  <em>
    <span>buy</span>
  </em>
  <span> what he needed... and he'd sat on it for weeks, unsure of when to bring it up. Unsure of when he wanted to </span>
  <em>
    <span>try</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Unsure of what he would do on the off chance that Sykkuno said no. They hadn't talked about it enough -- they hadn't really set out their expectations.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They'd just been together... and they'd been </span>
  <em>
    <span>happy</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And Corpse couldn't imagine anything else that he wanted for the rest of his life other than that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So when the door opened, he had a moment to wonder if his heart was going to manage to pound through his ribcage. He raised a hand and brushed through the dark, curly strands of his hair and took as deep a breath as he could.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Hey, Corpse." Sykkuno </span>
  <em>
    <span>still</span>
  </em>
  <span> greeted him in the same warm breath of excitement as he had since they'd first started interacting. He was smiling, and his hands were full of tall plastic cups with fat straws poked into the top of them. "I went ahead and bought some muffins, in case you were hungry, too." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He sat everything down on the counter and his dark brows hiked. Corpse knew that he'd been acting a bit </span>
  <em>
    <span>off</span>
  </em>
  <span> for the last few days, which was why Sykkuno had gone out to get him his favorite tea when they had enough food in the house that there wasn't a reason to actually go. He raked fingers through his hair one more time and then stuck them into his hoodie so he could fidget with the box.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Hey, Sy..." His voice was soft, careful. He took a few steps forward and drew up just a little short of the man standing in front of him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sykkuno still wore the merch hoodie that he'd brought him -- the </span>
  <em>
    <span>slightly-too-large hoodie</span>
  </em>
  <span> that belonged to </span>
  <em>
    <span>Corpse, </span>
  </em>
  <span>which the older man had been all too happy to wear. The edges of the sleeves were a little ragged, and the red graphic on the front was starting to crack slightly at the edges from how much he'd worn it. Sykkuno stepped forward and wrapped his arms around him. He managed to pull his hands and the box out of his pocket undetected so he could reciprocate the motion -- the hug was soft, and warm... and Sykkuno smelled like </span>
  <em>
    <span>his</span>
  </em>
  <span> cologne and sugar. Something inside of him clicked into place </span>
  <em>
    <span>like it always did</span>
  </em>
  <span> when they were this close. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He wasn't sure why he'd been so afraid -- this was right. Sykkuno was right.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Corpse felt something in his chest squeeze tight -- now was definitely the time. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Hey, Sykkuno." His voice was softer when he spoke this time, and Sykkuno managed to lift his head slightly from where he'd laid it on Corpse's shoulder. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I... uh... I..." It had been a while since Sykkuno had made him stutter. He was feeling it now, spilling into the back of his throat and making his tongue feel thick. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Is everything okay?" Sykkuno raised one hand and smoothed curls from Corpse's face, his dark eyes inquisitive. He knew that the only reason he could see the worry dancing behind the dark shade was because of how close he was, how close they were. Sykkuno had every reason to be worried; Corpse had been distant, almost irritable, anxious for the past few days. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But Sykkuno was still there, holding him together. Making sure he didn't fly apart.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And that was why he had to...</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He stepped out of the older man's embrace, and felt something inside of him clench at the only-slightly-visible sting in Sykkuno's eyes. Hopefully, that would go away with what he was doing next.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I... look, I'm not good at this." He pulled the box out and offered it to Sykkuno with a nearly pained expression. "I'd get on one knee, but I'm not sure if I could get back up again... I... oh, fuck it." Corpse lowered himself carefully to the ground in front of Sykkuno, whose eyes were slowly widening with realization. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"C-Corpse." Sykkuno hadn't stuttered around him in months, either. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Don't... I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to get this out if you stop me. I... Sy... I don't know if you understand how much you mean to me... how much </span>
  <em>
    <span>better </span>
  </em>
  <span>my life has been because you're in it. I..." He swallowed around the thickness in his throat, the fact that some part of him was </span>
  <em>
    <span>screaming</span>
  </em>
  <span> internally because Sykkuno looked so shocked. "You know what a mess I was when we first met. You know how hard it was for me to even get to the point where I could tell you how I felt. And..." his fingers twitched again, but he managed to get the box open to reveal the black metal ring interwoven with streaks of gold. "I love you, Sy. There are days when I feel like you're the only thing that keeps me from flying apart. I just..." Corpse dropped his eyes, felt his body actually give a slight tremor. "I guess... I'm just trying to say that... fuck." He’d had this entire speech about kintsugi practiced in his mind, but none of those words were coming out. He couldn't raise his gaze up, but he finished off. "I want to be with you forever. In every way that I can."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was silence for a moment. There was a panicked sensation pouring through his chest that the answer was </span>
  <em>
    <span>no</span>
  </em>
  <span> and Sykkuno was just trying to figure out how to say it to him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And then there was a soft flutter of clothing... and the sensation of something </span>
  <em>
    <span>wet</span>
  </em>
  <span> on his hand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He looked up in time to see tears softly streaking down Sykkuno's face. His hands were wrapping around Corpse's own... and then he was kneeling in front of him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Those tears were soft -- sweet. And his eyes were so warm that Corpse knew they could melt metal if he wanted, enough to piece them both together this time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Corpse." His voice was thick with his tears, but he brought one hand up to very carefully cradle Corpse's face in his own. It had taken them </span>
  <em>
    <span>months</span>
  </em>
  <span> for him to feel comfortable with that. And now it was like all of that heat was radiating through him and filling in even more cracks that he hadn’t known existed -- that he hadn’t known a person could actually </span>
  <em>
    <span>touch</span>
  </em>
  <span>. "Corpse... of course. I love you... I-I think I always have." He leaned in, soft and sweet, and his lips tasted like salt and bubble tea when Sykkuno pressed them against his own and murmured. "You've had all of me since we met." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sweeter still, he let his mouth linger for a moment and then sat back on his heels and held his hand out.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It actually took him a moment to realize why. With shaking fingers and a nearly giddy laugh, Corpse took the ring out of the box and slid it onto Sykkuno's finger. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was a perfect fit. </span>
</p>
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